As Rasheed Wallace's foot injury lingers, the New York Knicks are showing a renewed interest in free-agent forward Kenyon Martin, league sources told Yahoo! Sports.

The Knicks have done some additional fact-finding on Martin in recent days, sources said.

Martin has been open-minded about the possibility of accepting a 10-day contract to get the opportunity to prove his value to the Knicks, sources said.

Wallace has missed 12 straight games with what the Knicks call a "stress reaction" in his left foot. The uncertainty surrounding Wallace's return has made the Knicks circle back on the possibility of signing Martin, sources said.

Wallace's status is the "critical piece" to the Knicks signing Martin, one league official said.

Martin, 35, played the most reduced role of his career with the Los Angeles Clippers in his 12th season in 2011-12. The Knicks' roster includes four former teammates of Martin that he's has good relationships with: Carmelo Anthony, J.R. Smith, Marcus Camby and Jason Kidd.

Jim Buss is a total tool. Why make all these investments just to see them fail because of lack of depth and poor coaching. Penny wise and pound foolish -- getting embarrased, wasting Kobe's years, wasting Nash, losing draft picks to other teams, paying taxes for NOTHING in terms of contention, paying Brown millions for nothing, and risking losing Dwight because of turmoil. So stupid. Anyone could see that Gasol should have been moved weeks ago. Now may be too late.

I still say the best way for the Lakers to turn this around and make a run THIS YEAR for the 7th or 8th seed, and still have a team that can contend, is to move Gasol and get pieces that have value so even if they have longer term deals they can be moved in 2014 for their plan.

Pek to Portland for Mathews (in a 3-way deal and whatever piece to make it work)

Then trade Duhon, Meeks and the 2nd from Minny (and some cash) to Wiz for Ariza. Sign West to min.

A team with a bench that has shooters (Barea, Williams, Mathews), vets with playoff experience and who can hit big pressure shots (Barea, Ariza, Mathews), youth, speed, athleticism/hops (Ariza, Mathews, D, Williams, Hill), and some decent wing/pg defenders (Ariza and Mathews) and great energy guys. ALL OF THE THINGS WE NEED. Guys who would all fit MDA's system (and excel in it) and mix easily with our starters.

This would also help limit minutes for Kobe (34) and Nash (30). Ths team could go on a huge run, play big (with Dwight, Hill, Ron, Kobe), play small, fast, and defend, and have one of the best benches in the league. The extra money (plus tax) for Martin and West would be well worth it).

I think, top to bottom, defense and meshing starters and bench, this is the best team we could put on the floor with Gasol for pieces.

RENO, Nev. -- The Memphis Grizzlies have not made an iron-clad decision about trading swingman Rudy Gay before the league's Feb. 21 buzzer for deals, according to NBA front-office sources.

The Grizzlies might trade him. But they might not.

The Toronto Raptors, by contrast, have definitively decided to make a real run at Gay.

The Raptors might not be able to swing a deal for him. But they'd love to.

Sources told ESPN.com this week that the Raptors -- who tried to make a play for Gay before the 2012 NBA draft -- remain seriously "interested" in the Grizzlies' leading scorer and are trying to assemble trade packages to bring the 26-year-old to Toronto after preliminary talks with Memphis.

Among the trade chips that the Raptors are believed to be dangling, in addition to draft considerations, are veteran point guard Jose Calderon (who has an expiring contract worth $10.6 million) and young big man Ed Davis.

Grantland's Zach Lowe reported last week that the Grizzlies had begun the process of letting various teams know that Gay would be available in the right deal before the annual February trade deadline. Sources consulted in Reno during the NBA's annual D-League Showcase have described the bulk of those discussions to date to be exploratory in nature, but Toronto, as part of that process, has let it be known to the Grizzlies that its desire to acquire Gay has not waned.

It was widely assumed around the league coming into the season that the Grizzlies' new ownership group, headed by majority owner Robert Pera and CEO Jason Levien, would look into moving Gay to lessen Memphis' luxury-tax obligations after this season and coming seasons.

But the Grizzlies, with their three top players all healthy for the first time in three seasons, got off to a rousing 14-3 start and, despite fading slightly to 22-10, are generally regarded as a team capable of winning the ever-competitive Western Conference.

That has led some rival teams to project that the Grizzlies, as one GM in Reno put in Tuesday, could "wait until the summer" before deciding whether they're indeed prepared to break up the Zach Randolph-Marc Gasol-Gay trio.

Yahoo! Sports reported Tuesday that the Phoenix Suns, like the Raptors, have let the Grizzlies know that they are prepared to trade for Gay by packaging swingman Jared Dudley with future first-round picks. The Memphis Commercial Appeal subsequently reported that the Sacramento Kings are also among the teams to engage the Grizzlies in preliminary Gay talks, with CBSSports.com and the Contra Costa Times reporting that similar discussions between Memphis and Golden State quickly ended when it became apparent that the Warriors would have to include the contract of Richard Jefferson to make the salary-cap math work.

The Raptors, meanwhile, tried to trade for Gay six months ago, offering up various packages headlined by the No. 8 pick in the draft (eventually used on Terrence Ross) and Calderon. The Grizzlies, still owned by Michael Heisley at the time, passed.

Word is that the Grizzlies' new regime is adamant that it won't merely try to dump salary by dealing Gay in-season if it severely weakens their team in the process. Gay, averaging a team-high 17.8 points per game but shooting a career-low 40.8 percent from the floor, is earning $16.4 million in 2012-13 and is scheduled to earn $17.8 million and $19.3 million in the next two seasons, respectively.

Said another GM: "I think keeping Gay is still on the table for them, too."

^^$$$$. But yeah, it seems shortsighted somehow, especially Z Bo who has been so valuable to them. I can understand them letting Gay go. They've been basically as good without him in stretches as with him and he's got a pretty significant contract.

Wish we could somehow get Gay. Seems like he'd be a hell of a fit here. I've been reluctant for us to trade Pau especially for the names I've heard, but if we could somehow land Rudy Gay for him, I'd do that.

Uncle Drew wrote:Memphis is trying to cut down these big contracts, why would they want 19 000 000$ back with Pau?They want Jared Dudley+first round picks for Rudy Gay.

If there is a third team involved like Minnesota, they can absorb the salary for Pau; Memphis isn't taking him back obvously; it's one of the reasons I believe a 3rd team is almost a must have if you want to move Pau at any point for such a exhorbitant contract.

Think about it; when we traded Luke's seemingly unmovable contract, we included a draft pick. With Pau's contract we have no draft picks to include and or any upcoming young prospects that would even entice a team to deal with us regarding Pau. Take for instance when Kenyon was dealt to OKC; Kevin had a expiring for 12,439,675; Houston included youth, a productive piece in Kevin, and were able to get rid of that contract. We don't have that same luxury.

Last edited by dwighthowardsdad on Wed Jan 09, 2013 11:44 am, edited 1 time in total.

therealdeal wrote:I don't understand the first one... No team in the NBA wants Dwight to sign with another team besides the Lakers more than Cleveland...

Cleveland wants Dwight to sign with another team more than most NBA teams?... Did I translate that right?

And if so, why? If Dwight signs elsewhere, then we have even MORE room to sign someone like LeBron AND someone else...

Either it was a writing mistake or he was talking about how signing Dwight would make us a more appealing destination for LeBron. In 2014 only Nash and Dwight would be on the books, right? That would probably leave room for LeBron too. I guess that's what they fear, that we sign Dwight and LeBron finds us attractive as a place to come play in

"The first time I ever saw my uniform hanging in the locker I put it on right away, and it just felt like I was putting on golden armour. From that day forward, I just called it 'the golden armour', it just felt like there was something mystical and magical about it" - Kobe Bryant.

I highly doubt bron is going to leave miami. Somebody with that much ego would know how much of a fool it would make him look like after "not 1...not 2...." Plus they just came off a championship, he's not going anywhere.

Before long, someone recognized Phil Jackson sitting in the front seat, and then the rocks began to fly. Revelers pelted the bus and shook it, mocking the Lakers at their lowest moment.

“It was painful,” Lakers forward Pau Gasol(notes) said. “It is a feeling that I want to keep in my mind for every single minute that I’m out there playing them.”

Yeah, might be cool. But Weezy is right, Gay does seem to get injured a lot, which is the only thing that gives me pause (Pau's).

Still might do it anyway though. At least it's high talent back. I hate the idea of trading Pau for peanuts.

Even with Gay, it might be better to hold off and wait til the summer. Pau is our ONLY real trading chip. Have to be careful there. He's going to have so much more value then.

Also if we trade for Gay, that's kind of it for us. We'll be strapped with that contract like Memphis is now.

Gay would be a great fit for this team I think, and yes he's injury prone but f*** it so is our whole team.

The only problem I see is the one you pointed out: we're all in with this squad for the next 3 years if we make that move. There's no room for anyone else. It'd probably mean we'd see Kobe come back for one more year after his contract. I'm not entire sure I'm comfortable building around Gay/Howard, but seriously we're supposed to be all in this season. It's time to make that move.

therealdeal wrote:I don't understand the first one... No team in the NBA wants Dwight to sign with another team besides the Lakers more than Cleveland...

Cleveland wants Dwight to sign with another team more than most NBA teams?... Did I translate that right?

And if so, why? If Dwight signs elsewhere, then we have even MORE room to sign someone like LeBron AND someone else...

Either it was a writing mistake or he was talking about how signing Dwight would make us a more appealing destination for LeBron. In 2014 only Nash and Dwight would be on the books, right? That would probably leave room for LeBron too. I guess that's what they fear, that we sign Dwight and LeBron finds us attractive as a place to come play in

That's what I thought it must be after I posted my response. Whoever that is must think that Dwight and Nash and probably no one else at the moment would make a pretty nice looking destination.

I agree. That DOES seem like a nice destination for LeBron. Especially if Kobe is gone.

If Williams was that good, he would be getting more than 17 mins, especially with Love out and Beasley gone. He's not though, so far he's been a big disappointment for the #2 pick, so no I don't want him.